The production of shaped objects of poly(arylene sulfide) resin matrix reinforced with continuous fiber strands by the pultrusion process is established. Shaped objects produced by this pultrusion process are useful under conditions that are limited by the softening temperature of the matrix resin. When the resin matrix is a polyphenylene sulfide, the temperature limitation of previously available matrix resins has been partially overcome. However, there are applications such as in reinforced structures or weight-sensitive structures that even higher temperature stability of the matrix resin is desirable. A continuing problem remains in the selection, preparation and use of matrix resins for continuous fiber strand reinforced shaped articles that meet this need.
The substitution of one matrix resin for another in a pultrusion process requires novel processing techniques including adjusting fiber content of pultrusion prepreg, adjusting size of polymer particle for impregnation, adjusting pulling tension, and adjusting die configuration.
Using poly(arylene sulfide ketone) as the resin matrix provides pultruded products that have advantages over the same products made from other materials such as steel, wood, or aluminum. The pultruded products are lightweight, can be designed for the strength and stiffness required, are non-rusting, are corrosion resistant to numerous chemicals and gases, are non-conductive, and have low thermal conductivity. The products have potential use both as parts that become a portion of a larger fabricated structure when the pultrusion is incorporated into the overall fabrication (frames, supports, gratings) and in the type of products which are themselves structures (ladders, walkways, guardrails).
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a method for preparing shaped objects of reinforced plastic in which poly(arylene sulfide ketone) is the matrix for strands of fiber reinforcement. It is another object of this invention to provide a method for pultruding fiber strands impregnated with poly(arylene sulfide ketone). It is still another object of this invention to provide shaped objects having poly(arylene sulfide ketone) matrix and strands of fiber reinforcement. It is still another object of this invention to provide pultruded objects in which the strands of fiber reinforcement are surrounded with a poly(arylene sulfide ketone) matrix.